In the semiconductor industry, different physical and/or chemical methods are known. Using such methods, structures in the microrange and/or nanorange can be produced quickly, efficiently and economically. One of the most frequently used methods is lithography. Lithography is defined as the transfer of a structure into another material.
The best-known lithography method is photolithography. In a photolithographic process, a geometrically correspondingly broad light beam of narrow band (in terms of frequency) is used to illuminate a structured mask in a blanket manner. The mask consists of a base material which is transparent to the wavelength of the light used. On at least one of the two opposing surfaces, there is a thin layer structure of a material which is opaque to the wavelength of the light used, which structure has been produced by vapor deposition processes. The opaque elements of the thin layer structure prevent the passage of the photons at the corresponding site. The transparent locations which are not covered by the opaque thin layer structure allow unhindered passage of the photons. In this way, the imaging of the transparent regions of the mask onto any surface is enabled. In the most frequent embodiment, this method is used to image the transparent regions into a polymer which reacts sensitively to the photons of corresponding wavelength and causes a chemical reaction by irradiation. By other processes, a corresponding positive or negative of the mask can be produced in the polymer layer, and the mask is used for further process steps as a corresponding polymer mask on the substrate.
Another lithography method is embossing. In this method, a structure on the surface of a punch is used to leave a corresponding negative in an embossing material. The embossing material is cured before the removal of the punch from the mold. The number of required process steps for producing a corresponding structure can be somewhat smaller than for photolithographic processes.
The technology of structure transfer is becoming more and more complicated as structures become smaller and smaller. The reason for this is mainly the action of macroscopic inhomogeneities on microscopic elements. For example, any ordinary plate which rests on at least three bearings in a gravitational field will have bending which can be negligible for many macroscopic applications. But if the intention is to image nanometer-sized and/or micrometer-sized structures which are located on a mask by the aforementioned photolithography processes in a blanket, complete and exact manner, it is recognized that the sag of the mask for such small structures can no longer be ignored. With reference to photolithography masks, the problem is exacerbated by the structures having to be smaller and smaller and the diameters of the masks larger and larger. The reduction in the size of the structures on the mask is the result of the afore-mentioned miniaturization in the field. The increase of the mask diameter is necessary since the exposed polymer layers are applied to larger and larger wafers in order to increase the throughput of the functional units which are to be produced, for example microchips, MEMS, etc. At the same time, the masks should become thinner and thinner in order to allow as much light as possible through the transparent regions of the mask in order to increase the intensity.
Similar considerations exist with reference to the punch for embossing lithography.
An advantage of this invention is a semiconductor processing device and a semiconductor processing method, wherein exact structures can be reproducibly manufactured even for large areas.
This advantage is achieved with the feature of the independent claims. Advantageous developments of the invention are given in the dependent claims. All combinations of at least two of the features given in the specification, the claims and/or in the figures fall within the scope of the invention. For given values ranges, values which lie within the indicated limits should be considered disclosed as boundary values and able to be claimed in any combination.